


The Night’s Décor

by sepiapages



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Glowing Eyes, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, but there's also fluff, coping method, that comes later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-26
Updated: 2016-01-05
Packaged: 2018-04-17 05:07:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4653507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sepiapages/pseuds/sepiapages
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>1.0 – Tyler and Josh find themselves in a strange place. In the dark. Tyler freaks out. Josh learns some things. Creepy supernatural shit.</p>
<p>2.0 – The power goes out at a show and the crowd takes over.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1.0

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work here, as well as my first TØP fanfic. It's Joshler but it's not too focused on the relationship (apart from the support and everything. And the fluff later. Hehe.)  
> I’ve never been good at short stories or anything like that, but I’m sucking at committing to full works lately; so here’s to hoping this isn’t awful and maybe a little enjoyable. Inspired by ‘Glowing Eyes’ and god bless showers.

Tyler was nervous. Nerves were expected as a performer, of course, but this was worse than usual. Josh made things better. Josh calmed Tyler. Josh… Well, Josh wasn’t here. So Tyler was nervous. _Really_ nervous.

It was probably reasonable, considering they were about to play a _huge_ arena. _Scheduled to play, anyway,_ Tyler thought pessimistically. He couldn’t abandon all the people, though, so he just ignored the thoughts as best he could. They’d practically sold out, too! _Practically_ , the voice jabbed again. Tyler shook his head and tried to clear it, along with his chest, which was beginning to tighten.

He decided to take matters into his own hands. He found a staff member—the manager, no less, so he would probably know what was going on for sure. “Hey, where’s Josh?” he asked, tugging on his shirt and feeling small.

The man—really _tall_ man, so Tyler was allowed to feel small, really—glanced down at him. “You’re not both ready?” Tyler shook his head and resisted the urge to wring his hands. “Trailer, I’d assume. Getting ready. Last minute details, you know, the like,” he suggested.

“Oh, okay. Thanks,” Tyler mumbled, disappointed he hadn’t known exactly where his bandmate was. He left and wandered around the busy backstage. He asked a few more people but nobody knew anything solid. He started getting really frustrated and desperate when he passed a curtain with a peek out into the crowd. He focused on his breathing and imagined the peace he’d feel when he found Josh. It wasn’t like he’d just leave, anyway. They had a show to do.

After a few long minutes of searching, it was nearly fifteen minutes to showtime. Tyler was beginning to be less worried for Josh and more angry that he’d just disappear without any warning or note or _anything_. When he found him, he was sure he’d have some things to say.

Tyler was getting pretty far away from the arena, now. He’d gone outside to look for the trailer and gotten a bit lost, though he wasn’t about to admit that.

There was a strange little building—more like a shack, or a dilapidated shed—sitting off to the side of the parking lot. Tyler would’ve ignored it if he hadn’t noticed the footprints in the dirt by the door. Okay, he might’ve ignored those too, since they were at an enormous arena with somewhere around 50,000 people inside. (Probably less. Probably way less.)

But then there was the little fact that Tyler could see something that looked suspiciously like Josh’s plaid, flannel jacket lying on the ground. His heartbeat quickened—if it was even possible to get any faster—and crazy thoughts raced through his mind.

He approached the door cautiously, all angry thoughts dissolving and he started running through the conversation he would have with Josh after he dragged him out of there.

“I thought you were bailing on me.”

“Nah, I got distracted. Why would I bail on something as cool as this?”

“I don’t know. I got worried.”

“Well, don’t worry next time.”

“I can’t just _not worry_ , Josh, we’ve been over this.”

“Oh, right. Anxiety.”

“Yeah. Don’t scare me. Fear leads to anxiety, and then I have a hard time parting paranoia and actually reasonable… reasons… to worry…”

Tyler was getting in too deep and he hadn’t even opened the door. He debated knocking, but kept freezing before his knuckles could connect with the wood. He tried to be useful by picking up Josh’s coat. (Was it a coat? Was it a jacket? It was too thin to be a jacket but it wasn’t really a coat either. It definitely wasn’t a sweater. Tyler rubbed his temples.)

He tucked it under his arm, then took it out and threw it over his shoulder. He almost took it off again but forced himself to leave it and open the damn door.

“Josh?” he called out. It was a small building so he expected to find him right away, even if he was out cold on the floor or something. And yet… Joshua was nowhere to be found. “Josh!” he said again. He really didn’t want to enter the creepy room, but it looked like he’d have to.

He squinted into the darkness. It came to his realization, suddenly, that he couldn’t actually see the back wall. Or maybe he could. It was most likely a trick of the eye, and the brain wanting to say, “Yeah I see the wall. Why wouldn’t I? It’s supposed to be there, so it is.”

Tyler backed out of the doorway and leaned around the corner of the shack to see the back. It only looked to be about three or four yards deep, yet when he looked back into the room, it seemed endless.

He opened the door wider. The dull sunlight didn’t even seem to make a dent.

He wished he had a flashlight. He’d left his phone backstage, to his chagrin.

There didn’t even seem to be anything inside the shed, which only furthered Tyler’s stress and agitation. (Although, if there were chainsaws hanging from the ceiling and power tools on the walls, that would’ve been considerably worse.) Still, it was empty, which meant nothing likely to hurt him. But Tyler was a very captious person, which always bugged him, but there’s not much you can do when you want to escape yourself.

“Josh, you in here?” he tried again. He thought he heard some shuffling, but it was probably more brain tricks. Tyler groaned and slowly stepped into the room. He half expected the door to swing shut on him as soon as he was fully through the doorway, but thankfully it didn’t.

“ _Josh_!” he shouted. If he didn’t hear it in here, he would likely hear it wherever he was outside. He glanced over his shoulder to see if Josh was anywhere in the parking lot—which he probably should have checked before this, but something was keeping his mind wrapped around this place curiously.

Something bright caught his eye, on the wall to the right of the doorway. There was a splinter of wood sticking out of the wall dangerously and a tuft of… _something_ was caught on the end. He looked closer and his eyes widened.

It was hair. Bright red hair.

_Josh’s_ hair.

He winced as he pulled it off the splinter. That must’ve hurt. But at least he knew Josh had been in here. “Josh, come on,” he whined. “Where are you?” He didn’t know how close it was getting to showtime, but it was probably far too close for comfort. Management wouldn’t be happy.

But Tyler couldn’t go on without Josh. That was kind of a big deal, being a two-piece band, to have both members on stage for a gig. So, Josh was it. _Then_ deal with management.

He tucked the tuft of hair in the pocket of Josh’s coat—cardigan, he remembered; it was a thin flannel cardigan—and looked back around the room. He’d expected to be able to see the back when stepping in, but it was still darker than Satan’s ass crack. He decided to at least find the back, and then go searching for Josh out in the parking lot. Or maybe he’d gotten distracted at the vendor’s carts and was just busy inhaling a hot dog or two. (Or three.) Tyler nearly slapped himself for not considering something like that.

He couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling, though. It was only intensified by the fact that he’d found his cardigan outside, and now hair. _Hair?_ That was just crazy. Serial-killer-novel style crazy.

“Here I go, into the deep, dark room that seems to defy physics and possess the capability to steal my best friend.” He threw his arms up, mocking himself. He shoved the splinter on the wall up and, to his surprise, it didn’t break. It moved.

And then _he_ moved.

Down. Really fast.

He didn’t even have time to scream.

Halfway down, his subconscious kicked in and he wondered how bad he would hurt when he landed. It seemed to take forever, yet only a few seconds before suddenly he blinked his eyes open—that he hadn’t realized he’d closed—and he was on the ground.

He hadn’t landed. Had he? It wasn’t the landing that _should_ have happened. He should’ve been a broken mess on the floor. Yet… here he was, just standing casually in the middle of a room even darker than the one he’d moved from. _How the hell is this possible?_

He looked up and around, trying to see something, _anything_ to indicate what this was.

Cliché. That’s what it was. Serial killer novel with a ukulele screamo band twist. He would’ve liked it if he hadn’t been in the middle of all of it, with the realization slowly dawning on him that Josh wasn’t in the parking lot, backstage, _or_ at the food carts. He was down here with him.

Wherever “down here” was.

Tyler shook himself. If he wasn’t feeling unnerved before, he sure was now. He closed his eyes (and it was one of those situations where when you close your eyes, it only gets slightly darker, if at all) and tried to ignore the silent fog closing in around him.

“ _Josh_! _Hello_!” he yelled as loud as he could muster. His voice cracked and briefly he wondered how his singing voice would be tonight, especially if he was going to scream. He knew the fans liked that.

He sat down and crossed his arms and legs, hugging Josh’s cardigan close to his chest. He was about to let himself drift off into his mind—a bad idea, honestly—when a distant whisper drifted to his ear. Not a whisper, but it was a shout so far away it became a whisper when it reached him.

“ _Tyler_!”

Tyler leapt to his feet and yelled into the void again. He counted the seconds, wondering if it would work like thunder, before the call returned.

“ _Hey_! _Ty_!”

“Joshua!” Tyler grinned and screamed his name. He started running, his fingers gripping the cardigan so tightly his knuckles were probably white if he could see them. He hadn’t realized just how badly he was lacking Josh. His stability was slipping before, but he’d somehow been able to ignore it while searching. Now that he was close to finding it again, he could hardly breathe.

He felt like he was running for hours. It was probably five minutes and he was very grateful for the exercise their shows gave him. Stamina—check. He called out Josh’s name a few more times, and he got a response most times. They seemed to be getting closer. He hoped Josh was running too.

He didn’t know how long it had been before he finally sensed a change and heard footsteps in the distance. Heavy, fast footsteps. Running footsteps.

“Josh, is that you?” he called, very winded.

“ _Tyyyyy_ lerrrr!” He heard the singsong voice of his bandmate echo down, so much closer than before. He grinned the whole way he ran.

Then, there he was. Tyler couldn’t see him until they were literally a foot or two away and he crashed so hard into Josh’s chest, he was sure he’d have a bruise later. Josh too. He almost felt sorry, but he only focused on wrapping his arms all the way around Josh’s chest and hugging him as tightly as he could.

“Ty…!” Josh gasped. Tyler let go slightly and felt Josh laugh. “Hey, what are you doing down here?”

Tyler just buried his face into Josh’s shirt and mumbled something like, “Finding you.”

Josh hugged Tyler back, resting his cheek on the top of Tyler’s head. His arms felt like a safety ring, holding Tyler protectively. Soon, though, he had to ask again. “Really, man, what are you doing?”

Tyler reluctantly pulled back and readjusted his shirt. “I don’t know. What the hell is this place? I was panicking up there without you. It’s almost showtime and I thought you’d bailed on me. I went out looking for you and… Here,” he held up the cardigan. “I found this outside. And…” he awkwardly pulled out the tuft of hair. “Are you okay?”

Josh mumbled, “Shit,” and took the cardigan, slipping it on quickly before inspecting the hair. He rubbed the top of his head. “That hurt.” He laughed.

Tyler could hardly believe what was going on. “What the _fuck_ Joshua!” Josh blinked and took a step back. “You just… _disappear_ on me and I find you in this insane, horror-movie place and you’re acting like none of this is batshit crazy!”

“Calm down,” Josh said quietly, gripping Tyler’s hand. “I know it’s weird. I freaked out too. But I kinda lost track of time, so I’m sorry. I would never bail on you,” he gave him a pointed look. Tyler pouted. “And then I just… It’s pretty cool down here. If a little dark…”

He continued explaining quietly what he’d been doing and Tyler just gaped at him. After a few minutes, Josh dropped silent and Tyler swallowed. He looked around and became very aware of the darkness pressing in around them. With Josh in the room, however, it seemed to be just a little brighter. _He is the goddamn sun,_ Tyler thought.

“So… it’s almost showtime?” Josh breathed.

“Y-Yeah. We’re probably way late by now.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “At least I found you. We can deal with management later, you know?” He tried to laugh but it came out strangled. He gave up and wrapped his arms around himself.

“Sure,” Josh shrugged. At least Tyler thought he did. He really couldn’t see anymore. “Why don’t we get moving? It’s way too dark to stay around. Shall we?”

“Unless you want to stay down here.” Josh couldn’t see him roll his eyes, but he opened his mouth to retort. “Don’t answer that.”

Tyler began walking, dragging his hands along the walls. They were smooth concrete, which could have been much worse, and he relished the cold feeling keeping him grounded. Even Josh was only grinding his nerves down to a stump.

Josh followed Tyler. He was too busy counting back through how long he’d spent here to try to make any more conversation. But something struck him oddly. “Hey Ty?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s almost showtime, right?”

“I already went over that.”

“Just… go with me on this. It’s really close to showtime, am I right?”

“Yeah, sure. It is.”

He could hear Tyler give an annoyed sigh. He ignored it. “Like… within five minutes?”

“Damn, Josh, it’s probably five past to be honest.” Then he added quietly, “Management’s gonna be so pissed.”

“But… Tyler wait.” Josh reached out and blindly fumbled for Tyler’s arm. He found it eventually and yanked him to a stop, ignoring his shouts. “Ty, I swear I’ve been down here for hours.”

He stopped trying to wipe Josh off his arm and stood still. “Wh-what?” he breathed.

“I can’t really see my watch but I swear to God it’s been at _least_ an hour since I fell.” Josh pulled at his hair. “I-I don’t know why I didn’t try to get out sooner, but this place is so creepy and endless, I just couldn’t… stop… exploring?” It sounded bad even to himself.

“But Josh,” Tyler finally put in, “you only left backstage with me, like, twenty minutes ago. Maybe half an hour, I guess. But definitely not an hour. Did… did you land too hard?” He swallowed, not quite wanting to admit his strange landing experience yet. _We’ll get out, and then we can exchange weird stories._

“No, no, I swear. It’s been hours.”

“Well… it hasn’t.”

“Oh.”

They fell silent, both flipping back and forth between being annoyed at the other for not agreeing, and wondering if they were actually wrong. Then Josh cleared his throat. “Well, either way, we really should be getting back.”

“Yeah.”

Tyler was starting to get very uncomfortable again. His palms began sweating, his chest tightening, his throat closing up. After another few minutes of walking, a strangled tune made its way out of his mouth. He was singing. Or humming. Either way, he seemed to realize it was his best bet at calming.

It wasn’t even “pin-drop” quiet down there. It was even more silent. Josh heard Tyler’s singing as if he were speaking through a megaphone. He tilted his head and tried to recognize the tune. When he did, he grinned and began counting the beats before patting his legs accordingly.

Tyler jumped. The singing didn’t stop, however, and suddenly they were performing a rendition of “Glowing Eyes” for an invisible crowd. He was still feeling… _off_ but it was certainly better. He slowly stepped toward the sound of Josh’s _pat patpat pat_ s and trailed off in the verse. He reached for Josh and his hand, who, after a moment of reorientation, curled his fingers over his friend’s hand.

They didn’t comment. Tyler did his best to slow his racing heart and Josh was thankful for the dark to conceal his face. Eventually, they were walking with one head rested on a shoulder and the other with hair tickling his nose.

Time wasn’t right down there, they knew that at least. But it silently solidified the theory in their minds when it only took them three minutes and seventeen seconds to reach the place Tyler had fallen into. (Josh was counting. He stopped when Tyler ceased walking and yelled something like “We’re here!”)

“What do you mean?” Josh looked around. It was slightly lighter here, he had to admit. When he looked up, it seemed to have a strange outline of a rectangle on the ceiling, though the pulsing black around it wouldn’t let him focus enough to judge just how far away it was.

“I don’t know, I just… recognize this place. I… landed here.” Tyler shifted away from Josh and his left side immediately shivered. “Um, I gotta tell you something.”

Josh raised an eyebrow before remembering the lack of visibility and grunted for Tyler.

“I… didn’t really… fall?” he started awkwardly. Josh held his breath, hoping he knew what Tyler was trying to say. “I mean, I did fall. It was terrifying, but I didn’t land right. I didn’t slam into the ground like I should have, you know?” Josh grunted again, not trusting himself to a good enough response yet. “I just opened my eyes after falling for a while, and then… _poof_. Here I was.”

“I… yeah. Yeah, me too.”

Tyler’s heart jumped with joy. “Good _god_ , I was starting to think I was crazy.”

“Um…” Josh fumbled with a start. “Yeah, I just kind of… woke up here. I hardly remember finding the shed, to be honest. Part of me was like, ‘I should leave my jacket here for later. Like a clue.’ I had no idea what the hell that part of me was thinking at the time, but I think I might’ve been half asleep and half awake. And that awake part knew something was gonna happen.” He groaned. “I don’t know, this is insane. Let’s just get back up there and play and forget about all of this.”

“I agree,” Tyler mumbled after a few seconds.

They threw ideas back and forth for quite a number of minutes but slowly the quiet settled around them again. Poisonous thoughts began to creep into Tyler’s mind and he sat down, wrapping his arms around his knees.

_No, no, it’s going to be fine. We’re gonna get out. But what if we don’t? We could be stuck down here forever. It’s so dark and who knows what’s down here. It could be anything. We could be tortured or just slowly starve to death. What if someone else has already done that? What if we wander enough to find their body—or wander too far and just_ disappear _? Oh God, no…_

He started humming again. Then he opened his mouth and the lyrics floated out. He was beginning to get both really proud of the song he’d written, and irritated with it.

Across from him, Josh smiled. He was sitting down against the wall, pretending to draw on the floor. For some reason, he didn’t feel like tapping the beat this time. Tyler got past the first chorus before he sensed a change. The air thickened and he looked up from the ground. His breath caught in his throat and he tried to make a sound but nothing came out.

Eyes.

He could see eyes.

They were everywhere. Luminescent gold eyes hovered throughout the blackness surrounding them, and, if Josh were being honest, they seemed to be slowly bobbing to the rhythm of Tyler’s singing.

“T-Ty… Tyler…” Josh’s voice was strained as he tried to keep it as quiet as he could yet still make a noise. “Tyler, um, don’t freak out… th-there are… eyes…?”

Tyler stopped singing and looked up. “What? Eyes? What do you—?” Then he stopped talking altogether. “Oh my _God_ —what the _fuck_ —Josh—oh God—we need to get out of here!”

“Wait, no!” Josh scrambled to get up as soon as he heard—and saw, really, it was a lot lighter now with the… eyes—Tyler getting up. “Shit, Tyler, _look_!”

As soon as Tyler had stopped singing, the eyes had one by one stopped bobbing and faded to a threatening shade of red.

“Um… sing!” Josh cried.

“ _What_?” Tyler was near hyperventilating. This was it; this was the straw to break the camel’s back and he was about to fully break down—and Joshua wanted him to sing?

“I’m serious, keep singing! Or start again, I don’t care.”

Tyler stuttered but then croaked out a few _la dada da_ s and watched, terrified, as the eyes slowly faded back to yellow and returned to strangely following the rhythm of the song. Tyler watched in disbelief for about thirty seconds before staring intensely at the ground and trying to only focus on keeping himself steady.

He wanted desperately to say something to Josh, but he was too afraid to stop. Thank god the two were so close they could have passed as fraternal twins.

“Um… just keep singing, okay? I’ll think of something,” Josh told him. He was trying to sound reassuring, but he was obviously freaking out just as bad. “I don’t think we should move from here. This is the only place we know of that may take us back.”

Tyler nodded his head. He started sweating as the song came to a close. As soon as he ended, he took the few seconds to throw, “Okay—drum? Think!” Then he nervously debated starting another song, but the eyes had already stopped bobbing so he hastily restarted.

“Oh, yeah, sure.” Josh quickly oriented himself and picked up with a beat. The eyes seemed to like that, because they started bobbing more noticeably, swooping deeper and back up again. Some of them even seemed to give the impression of smiling.

Then, as if the two couldn’t get any more unsettled, the eyes started _singing_.

Their disgusting, raspy voices echoed hideously around the room. It almost sounded like a foreign language, but Josh could pick up similar sounds as Tyler continued singing. His voice wobbled and he stuttered for a few lines when they’d first started singing along, so Josh took a few long strides and stood beside him. His chest tightened—he wanted to hug him—but he continued patting along.

He could hear Tyler’s breath rattling. He finally leaned over and rested his head partially on his friend’s shoulder. “It’s okay,” he breathed. “We’ll figure this out.”

Tyler seemed to relax a little. He took a break in the song to breathe deeply and nodded. Then he continued on his sick rendition for the eyes. Josh furrowed his brow, determined to fix this, if not for him, for Tyler. He knew he wasn’t going to last much longer under the stress.

His mind raced, trying to put the pieces together in the insane puzzle. He was never good at riddles, but this one he _knew_ he would get. He had to.

_Eyes… Singing… Endless dark tunnels…? What does it mean? What do they have in common?_ He swallowed a frustrated sigh so as not to worry Tyler.

The eyes were important, he knew that. They were the key to them getting out… or staying forever. ( _Don’t be ridiculous, we don’t know we’ll be stuck here forever._ He wasn’t even convincing himself.) He thought back to how they’d first gotten here. By accident. Did they have to push up another lever? There wasn’t any lever around them as far as he could see and he didn’t want to go wandering; he was sure they’d get lost now. But… they’d both “woken up” here. They’d opened their _eyes_.

“Tyler…” Josh whispered. He wasn’t very confident about his theory and it wasn’t like Tyler could give much input at that point, but he had to say something. “I think I have an idea.” Tyler nodded him on. “It has something to do with eyes.”

He hesitated and Tyler put in quickly, “Of course it does!” The eyes twitched.

“No, no, no.” Josh leaned off of Tyler and nearly stopped drumming. “It’s like a riddle. Or… something. I don’t know. Just go along with it; this is already crazy enough. What could go wrong?”

“Don’t say that!”

“Close your eyes.”

“Should click heels too?”

“Shut up.”

Josh squeezed his eyes shut, and Tyler followed after a moment of hesitation. He even tried picturing the two of them standing outside the creepy shack. He _almost_ clicked his heels.

Nothing happened.

“Um…” Josh opened his eyes and ran a hand through his hair, feeling slightly ridiculous. _This entire thing shouldn’t be happening, we can deal with a few wild suggestions,_ he told himself. “The eyes are still listening. When we close our eyes… you’ve got to stop singing.”

“No! Can’t!”

“Tyler, please…” Josh wasn’t really sure about it either, but he slowly stopped drumming. He squeezed Tyler’s shoulder, watching the eyes carefully. They only slowed down like before. “Please. If it doesn’t work, just… Only stop for a minute. One minute—that’s it. Then if they… do something, you can start again and I’ll think of something else. I promise.”

Tyler made a noise in his throat like a whine.

“Here, I’ll explain it to you. We… We kind of ‘woke up’ here, right? We closed our eyes. And now these are frickin floating eyes. I swear it’s got to have something to do with eyes. Close your eyes and imagine falling back outside the shed.” Josh hoped sounded more sure than he felt.

Tyler didn’t respond for a minute, then he sighed. “Okay.”

Slowly, he brought the song to a close. He didn’t start again. They watched the eyes carefully. Josh’s stomach dropped as they faded to red, then he slapped Tyler’s arm and they both shut their eyes as tightly as they could. Tyler recalled the feeling of weightlessness as he’d fallen. Josh pictured the shed and the sunshine.

The air was thickening and soon it felt like they were standing in a fog. Tyler started sweating, and suddenly, it reminded him of the feeling of being on stage. Sweat dripping down his neck with the crowd shouting along, even holding him up.

Josh was thinking of the crowd too. He didn’t want to miss them. He wanted to perform today. Stupid, creepy eyes and a dark basement wasn’t about to keep him from the most fun he’d had in his life.

Then he heard a yelp.

Tyler.

He heard another and tried to open his eyes, but they were stuck.

Then he was falling. Falling up? He didn’t know. He didn’t know where Tyler was and he didn’t know what was happening, but he knew something was changing.

“Tyler!”

His eyes sprang open and he blinked in the harsh light. He was standing outside the building, cardigan hanging loosely off him and his brow slick with sweat. “Tyler!” Josh whirled around and looked frantically for his friend, but he couldn’t see him anywhere.

Suddenly, a loud cracking noise split the air and Josh jumped. He stared at the door of the shed and almost backed away when the door nearly broke as it was forced open. It slammed against the side and someone stepped out.

Tyler.

Josh didn’t register his movement, but the next thing he knew, he was wrapping his arms tightly around him and Tyler was whimpering into his shoulder. Josh buried his face in Tyler’s hair and tried to breathe normally and slow his heartbeat. At least three minutes passed before he loosened his grip and released him.

“We’re out!” he grinned, still holding onto Tyler’s hands.

Tyler wasn’t smiling. He had a pained expression and he opened his mouth a few times, but no words came out. Then, “Th-they bit me.”

Josh blinked and narrowed his eyes. “What…?”

Tyler lifted his arms and pulled back the sleeves of his floral robe. Josh stared as hideous red scratches became visible, stretching down and across his arms. If he hadn’t been there with him, he would have thought they were self-inflicted. They were quite similar, he had to admit.

“Oh… no…” Tyler had silent tears slipping down his cheeks. He hastily rubbed them away and Josh stepped forward again to embrace him. He ran soft fingers over his arms and leaned down to kiss a few of the marks. “I’m so sorry.”

Tyler only shoved his face into the crook of Josh’s neck and Josh held his friend for another few minutes, rocking back and forth and cooing like he would for an infant. Though this was strange, he had expected it to happen one day. Just not after something like this…

“Come on,” he whispered eventually. “Let’s go. We can reschedule.”

“No!” Tyler protested, lifting his head. “No. I’m playing. The crowd… I was thinking of the fans. That’s what I was thinking of when we were taken away. I want to play.”

“Are you s—?” Josh started.

“Please, Josh.”

“All right. Well, let’s go then.”

He continued holding onto Tyler as they walked, secretly glad Tyler had wanted to keep playing. Without the music they created, he had no idea what his life would be or how either of them would fight for staying so happy. He smiled.


	2. 2.0

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> fluff… ish  
> The power goes out at a show and the crowd takes over.

 

They could hear the crowd long before they were within several yards of the arena. Josh smiled into Tyler’s hair as they drew closer. “I’m sorry I asked you to reschedule. I should’ve known.”

Tyler waved his apology off. “No, it was a reasonable assumption after what just happened.” They were quiet for a few heartbeats, knowing the other was thinking of the ordeal and what exactly it all was. Then he cleared his throat. “But yeah, this music is everything to me. I don’t want to disappoint the fans, you know?”

Josh nodded thoughtfully. He mumbled, “And we shouldn’t worry them. It’s not like we have a very valid excuse for our disappearance.” 

Tyler swallowed. “Yeah… Would  _ anyone  _ believe us?” Josh didn’t say anything, just leaned off Tyler’s shoulder. “We should, like, check out some locals or something. Maybe there’s some urban legend about the shed. Shack. Creepy-ass pile of wood,” he spat. Josh snickered. 

“Sure. Sounds like a good idea. Don’t we have some free time after this gig?” 

“Mmm… I think so. Or we could make time.”

The commotion was dizzying as they rounded the corner and headed toward the back entrance for staff. Tyler hissed, “Do you think management’s gonna be as pissed as I think they are?”

Josh shrugged. “Obviously. But maybe they won’t lecture us this time.”

They slipped in the doorway and Tyler looked around for the manager from the beginning of his… adventure. He was nowhere to be seen. Tyler furrowed his brow and wondered what exactly a manager would be doing before a show. 

Someone yelled and Josh grabbed Tyler, who’d been about to continue toward the opposite end of the stage, where they’d be entering later. He pulled at his arm and they faced the man stepping toward them. Tyler began running through possible conversations in his head.

“Hey, where have you two been?” 

Tyler opened his mouth to try to explain their ordeal in the most believable way possible—which was unlikely to come out well—but Josh seemed to predict his actions and dug his fingers into this shoulder. Tyler winced and glanced at him then back to the manager. Josh gave a nervous laugh and lifted his hand, running it through his hair and stepping forward. 

“Sorry, we got distracted walking around outside. We’ve never been around here before. You know us,” he winked, “crazy adventure nerds.” 

The man laughed. Tyler noticed a nametag—“Derek”—and realized he wasn’t the manager, but simply a staff member of the arena. 

“Hey,” he blurted. Derek looked to him. “You… you’re from around here, right?”

“Yeah,” Derek nodded, leaning back casually. “I’ve lived here since I was five. I got involved in this rigging at sixteen.” He patted a nearby pole lovingly. “What can I do for you?”

Josh looked alarmed and Tyler gave him a reassuring look before turning back to Derek. “Yeah, uh, do you have any… you know, urban legends?” 

Derek raised an eyebrow. “Legends? Oh, you mean like the elders’ myths. Stories to warn the kids to do as they’re told.” He laughed at some brief memory before folding his arms and smiling at Tyler. “Yeah, I know of one. It’s right around here, too!” Tyler’s heart jumped and he glanced at Josh, who gave a stiff grin. “Story goes there’s a dilapidated building—some say it’s a house, some say it’s a hut, or a tool shed; I don’t know—that disappears and appears, waiting for a victim to venture in and…” He paused and Tyler realized how much he was leaning forward and awkwardly fixed himself. Derek laughed. “Tense, eh? Why are you so interested, anyway?”

Tyler let Josh take that one. “We, ah, heard some kids running around yelling about ‘Don’t go in there! You’ll get lost forever!’” He laughed, but Tyler knew the laugh too well. It wasn’t real. He was covering up his fears. 

Derek blinked. “Oh… Yeah, that’s what happens. You get lost, apparently. Some people have come out apparently, but they’ve all ended up in the asylum in the next town over eventually. It’s taken between a week and a few months, depending on how much they’re in denial, or how social they are.” He snickered. Tyler and Josh didn’t join him. 

Eventually he cleared his throat and  shrugged. “Well, I don’t know what happens truly. Or if it’s even real. In my opinion, there’s got to be some inbreeding going on, if you know what I mean,” he said quietly. “So, yeah. Maybe they’re all just going crazy because of genetics. Probably.” 

Tyler licked his lips. “Well, you never know,” he murmured.

Derek narrowed his eyes. “Okay… Well, don’t believe what all the kids say.” He whistled and swirled a finger by his temple. 

Tyler choked. “Yeah, yeah. I love kids.” Josh nodded enthusiastically beside him.

Derek rolled his eyes. “Well, anyways, it’s almost time for you to head out. If there’s anything else I could help you boys out with, hit me up.” He winked again and Tyler decided he didn’t like it when anyone else winked but Josh.

“Wait, Derek, what time is it, anyways?” 

Derek rolled up his sleeve and glanced at his watch. It was a nice watch, Tyler noticed. He didn’t really like watches, though. “Five to showtime,” he told them. 

Tyler sighed. He was anxious, but he did want to go on. He would. (Especially since he’d already convinced Josh of his certainty.) Josh, on the other hand, seemed to have taken over Tyler’s initial nervousness. He was distracted as it was, and that new information only riled the blood in his veins more. But he knew he’d have to go on with Tyler. (A two-man band was quite the commitment.)

They said their thanks and Tyler let out a long breath. He leaned up against Josh who gladly accepted the weight. He reached over and rubbed his friend’s shoulder, a frown on his face. 

“Josh, do you know what this means?” Tyler said quietly, almost too quiet to be heard over the bustle of backstage. 

“Yeah, it means this is actually a thing. And it happened to other people.”

“But… those other people…” 

Tyler’s words were cut off by a shout of both their names. The actual manager hurried toward them. “There you are! Derek said you’d gone off wandering.” He had a tone of annoyance. Tyler winced. “Great idea, fifteen minutes before the show. All right, at least you found him,” he nodded to Tyler, who nodded quickly on instinct. “Good. Okay, go get ready. You don’t have an opener this gig, remember?”

They remembered. After several attempts and failures with excuses ranging from money to time to location, and even one case of utter rejection, Tyler was sure he, along the rest of management, were pretty fed up with phone calls for a while. 

“Yeah, sorry. We’ll get on it.” He turned, reaching for Josh’s arm to pull him along. They had to finish talking.

“You feeling all right?” the manager asked before they could slip away. He seemed to soften a bit and brought a hand up to his ear to dislodge the bluetooth phone temporarily. “This is a big show; you two should do your best.”

“I’m fine,” Tyler insisted, still trying to pull Josh away. “We’re fine. Just gotta get ready. It’ll be great, don’t worry.” 

“Sick as frick,” Josh added. 

The three of them smiled and the manager waved them off. Tyler pulled Josh by the sleeve, his shirt snapping tight and his feet stumbling after his friend. They pulled into the dressing room and shut the door. Tyler glanced at the makeup containers on the counter and back to Josh. He still didn’t have his show makeup on, not even the red eyeshadow. He considered trying to do it himself but pushed it away transiently. 

Josh readjusted his shirt. “Jeez, I know we just got emotionally wrecked but don’t ruin the shirt, man.” 

Tyler rolled his eyes and sat down in a chair. “Josh, what are we gonna do? I… I don’t know how I’m gonna be able to handle performing after that. Th-the crowd… everybody expecting… What about my voice?” He rubbed his throat, then stopped and clenched his fists. “And you don’t have makeup on and neither do I. Where’s the paint?” He started frantically tossing items aside on the desk.

“Tyler, hey! Ty!” Josh stepped forward and wrapped his hands around Tyler’s arm and tugged his friend toward him. “Just do what you do every time. No matter what, the fans will love it. Even if something goes wr—um, unaccording to plan, it’ll just go down in history as another crazy show. The fans will love it,” he repeated. 

Tyler stopped moving and sunk into the chair, staring silently at Josh. After a nearly a minute, Josh started getting prickles of sweat on the back of his neck. He glanced away and began lifting his hands. Tyler reached out and clung to his arm. 

“Did I ever tell you how nice your eyes are?” he said quietly. 

Josh’s throat closed up. “Uh… Thanks, man. But we really need to go.” 

“One more minute.” 

Josh pulled his arm away, “No, Tyler, we have to get out there. Where’s the makeup? Let’s slap some on and go kill it.” 

Tyler couldn’t help but smile. “Okay, yeah. Right.” He grabbed the makeup. “It’s gonna suck, but whatever.” He smeared red all over Josh’s eyelids and all around. He was smiling the whole time. “We’re gonna need to talk, later, though. Seriously.” 

Josh laughed under Tyler’s fingers, which only made Tyler’s smile grow. “Yeah, fine. Talking is good.” Tyler tapped his eyelids and he opened his eyes. His brow furrowed. “You’re doing okay, though, right? I mean, beside the whole insanity we just went through.” He sighed and ran his hand over his hair. “God it feels like a dream.”

Tyler nodded. “Y-Yeah I’m doing all right. No Blurryface business, if that’s what you’re asking.”  _ At least not yet…  _

He let out an obvious sigh of relief. “Oh, good. That’s good.” He chuckled. “Glad we could coin it, you know? Now we can talk about it a little easier.” 

Tyler only nodded. A loud noise from outside sent both of their gazes to the door. “Right, er, let’s go.”

“Wait, your paint!” Josh leapt to the other side of the room.  _ I think this is it…?  _ He grabbed a bin and shoved it at Tyler. “I’ll stall them and you put it on.” 

Tyler stared at the bin, picturing his covered arms and neck. He muttered a response and Josh left. 

“Are you two ready or not?” a staff member greeted him.

“Yeah, almost! Promise,” he assured him. “I’ll go do… something…” He grinned and hurried to the edge of the stage and stared out at the seemingly endless crowd. His stomach flipped and the eagerness to hop on his drums returned. A few fans noticed him and screams rose above the hum of the crowd. He waved and winked, well-aware of the screams that might follow—and did. 

He was about to step out onto the stage to do some sort of pre-show doodad when someone grabbed his arm. He turned to see the staff member giving him a look.

“Where’s Toby?” he asked.

“Tyler,” Josh corrected defensively, “and he’s getting ready. I swear we’ll be out in five minutes tops.” 

“Hop to it; we’ve got another show after you.” 

Josh rolled his eyes yet again and saw Tyler opening the door as the man walked away. Josh waved to him and Tyler was immediately at his side. “You ready?” Tyler nodded, breathing deeply and staring out at the crowd. Josh grabbed his shoulders and shook him. “Hey! Go nuts! It’s gonna be great! Forget that fucked up nightmare we just went through. It’s over. Done. Now we can move on and, hey, maybe you’ll write a song about it one day.”

Tyler smiled. “Won’t that be something.” 

Josh slapped him on the back with a smile. “Okay, let’s get out there.” 

Tyler nodded and glanced around backstage. “We gotta let someone know…” he murmured. A few more staff members caught his eye and Tyler waved and pointed to the stage. They nodded and burst into action, running about and talking to headsets. A few more people came and went, two shoving earpieces into the boys’ ears. They readjusted them and soon were given the OK. Tyler worried Josh’s face would split with the way he was smiling. He also wondered how he was able to temporarily forget all of the horror that had happened.

Josh rubbed his hands together. “Let’s kill it!” he shouted, running out onto the stage. 

Tyler followed, beginning the process of shutting off certain parts of his conscious and focusing on creating their music. The crowd drowned out the voices in his head and he could feel his ribcage rattling with every scream—every voice in the stands. He smiled, too. These people were here to see them. There was little they could do to disappoint them, in all honesty. 

He closed his eyes and breathed in the cold air. When he opened them, he burst into motion, grabbing the mic as he ran past the stand and jumping atop the piano. “Hello out there!” he shouted.

The crowd responded with more shrieks and Tyler laughed, the sound echoing around the arena. He didn’t speak for a minute, glancing back at Josh who was seated at his drum set, poised and ready. The drummer nodded at Tyler and tossed his hair out of his eyes. 

Tyler turned back to the crowd. It hadn’t gotten quiet, per se, but it had been toned down to a dull roar resounding in the space. He looked up at the darkening sky and brought the mic up to his grin. “Sorry to keep you waiting, but, uh...  Well, I think this is my favorite part of being a performer. The arenas. It’s never quiet, you know?” 

He shifted to sit down on the piano, swinging his legs as he continued. Every eye watched him but he only felt at home.

“There’s always sound here. The noises never die. That’s just like you and I. No matter what happens, our noise will never die. We will always be heard. I will always hear you, okay? You got that?” 

It seemed each person lining every inch of the large arena stood up and yelled at Tyler. He smiled over his shoulder at Josh, his friend sitting with his head back, mouth open, either gazing up at the sky or with eyes closed, listening.

“You know what that sound is?” Tyler yelled again. The crowd roared again. “That’s the sound of hope! And life! And happiness!” He marveled at the individual faces creating the sea of swirling color around him. “In this moment, I hope you are feeling happy. For once in your life, maybe. Hopefully more than that. So tell me, are you happy to be alive tonight?” 

He hadn’t believed it could get any louder, but the sound bounced his brain around in his head and he relished the buzz between his ears. 

As the fans began to settle, he tried to run through the setlist in his mind. He couldn’t think between the noise and the fact that the previous ordeal had most likely literally knocked his brain loose. A few nuts and bolts were out of place. He wasn’t going to be able to function well for a while.

He finally turned to look at Josh and decided to try to actually ask him. Tyler bounded up to the drummer and leaned over, his face only inches away from the other. Josh only grinned and didn’t move. 

“What’s the first song?” he asked, loudly. 

Josh gave him an odd look. “Look on the ground!” He pointed a stick to a spot by the mic stand. 

Tyler blinked and bounded over. Taped to the stage floor was a sheet of paper—the setlist. Tyler breathed a sigh of relief and read down the list.  _ Right! _ He remembered it now. 

The first song scheduled to go was “Heavydirtysoul.” He ran his tongue over his lips and took a few deep breaths. Okay. He could do this. Rap. Fast. Slightly emotionally unstable. But he could rap. 

He turned to give a thumbs-up to Josh when a sharp voice cut through his earpiece. “ _ Tyler! Are you ready to go, or what? _ ” 

“Yeah, let’s go!” he yelled back, throwing the signal to Josh who jerked upright and twirled his sticks excitedly. “Hit hard!” Tyler mouthed.

Josh beamed and mouthed back, “Always.”

The music started and Tyler began the process of “getting in the zone,” stepping back and feeling the excitement rise through his bones until the beat hit and Josh was pounding away. He stared dead into the crowd and took a step forward with the first phrase, hunching over dramatically. Every lyric came flooding back to him and with each word that passed between his lips, he was remembering each time he wrote the song. What he was feeling. What he felt after finishing. The first time he sang it for a crowd. The first time he sang it for Josh. 

In that time, for that first hour, he felt happiness. He loved it so much, he wanted to capture it in a jar and be able to carry it around with him. It took him a while, but when he realized it, he almost stopped playing his ukulele. He realized he  _ did _ have his happiness with him. It followed him around the world, wherever he may feel the need to put his battered, tortured body. 

Joshua. Joshua was his happiness in a beautiful flesh prison. 

And then, everything went dark. 

The beat of the music disappeared into the atmosphere, though it took a few seconds for Josh to realize it had stopped, and the crowd’s pulse was forever there. Still, Tyler reached up and tapped his earpiece expectantly. Nothing happened. They were in the middle of “We Don’t Believe What’s On TV” and Tyler heard the echoes of the last, broken lyrics bouncing off the stadium walls. He defeatedly ran his thumb down his ukulele strings. 

After a moment or two, he saw staff running around backstage and trying to signal him, but he felt rooted to the floor. He didn’t want to move. He got out there and he was determined to finish it out there. (That, and he didn’t know if he’d be able to build up the courage again.) 

As the time ticked on, Tyler felt his chest starting to close up and he took a step back, then a few more. He found himself leaning against Josh’s drum set, breathing heavily, his ukulele slipping in his sweaty grip. Every time he closed his eyes, flashes of yellow and red appeared in his vision, echoing into the world around him even when he reopened them. 

“Josh, do you see them?” he choked out.

Josh dropped his sticks and rushed around the set, wrapping his fingers around Tyler’s bicep and holding him tightly. “No, Tyler. They’re not here. We’re safe. It’s only the fans. Look.” 

Tyler swallowed and internally cursed himself for being weak and needy. Eventually, he nodded shakily, then forced a few more solid ones. “Okay. I’m okay. We’re okay.” He kept his eyes open and stared out into the crowd. 

Closing his eyes and sighing, Josh pressed his palm into Tyler’s chest, feeling a heartbeat. Erratic and heavy, but there. He rested his forehead against Tyler’s temple and squeezed his arms again. “You’re alive, Tyler. And everyone here is happy about that. Thankful for that.” 

A few more minutes passed and Tyler seemed to calm down enough to leave Josh’s embrace. He thanked him quietly and looked to the sides of the stage. The stage manager only gave him a helpless shrug. Tyler looked back out into the crowd and curled his fingers around his ukulele. 

“Acoustic,” he said, running back to Josh. 

“What?”

“We can do an acoustic show until they get the power back!” 

“Oh…” Josh looked at the ukulele, to his drums, and back to Tyler’s face, which was pulled into an inspired grin. He loved that look. “Great, let’s do it!”

A staff member tossed Tyler a megaphone, causing him to laugh giddily and run back to the front of the stage with new energy. He lifted it to his lips and spoke to the fans. “Sorry about that! We’re having some technical difficulties, but let’s keep this going. I need your help!”

The crowd’s roar rose and rattled the arena, making Tyler’s grin grow even more. “Sing with me! Let’s make tonight worth staying alive!”

He picked up the ukulele and strummed again, Josh backing him with the drums and making his heart beat the only rhythm he ever wanted to keep. He closed his eyes and sang, feeling like he was the one singing along to their song. After all, it was never about him. It was about them. It always would be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More fluff coming up soon. (Sorry for the crazy long wait. It's not quite as long as I wanted it to be but I hope you enjoy.)


	3. 3.0

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Sorry it's so short.)
> 
> FLUFF!!!1! love me some fluff. But first… not fluff. Angsty stuff. Oops.

Tyler was nervous. He didn’t know where he wanted to be, but he knew it wasn’t here. But he kept his mouth shut and allowed Josh to lead him out the doors and into the parking lot. He shivered and wished he had better clothing than skinny jeans, a t-shirt, and a floral robe. Still, though, he didn’t say anything and followed Josh through the darkening night, the gravel crunching beneath their feet.

The power had taken a while to come back on, but they ended up finishing the rest of the show as an acoustic. If Josh had to be honest, it was one of his favorite shows they’d ever done. Just Tyler’s voice floating over the crowd, a ukulele strumming along, and his drums accompanying them powerfully. He felt closer to the crowd than he had in a while—since their old, smaller venues at least.

Tyler, on the other hand, had tried his best to enjoy it, but it was hard. He knew in his heart he should, but nothing felt right anymore. He felt wounded and all he wanted was to hole up somewhere and shake the dust of the horror room.

Yet here they were, on their way back to the very origin of today’s anxiety.

Tyler tried to focus on why they were doing it, as well as Josh’s back. Maybe a bit lower than that, but that wasn’t the point. The point was the two of them needed to see it again. He didn’t know why, but maybe that would validate their experience and reactions. Or maybe it would scar them for life. Again. But hey, you only live once, right?

Staring at Josh, Tyler ran back through what else had happened that night—the good things, anyway. After the show, they’d almost forgotten to stay behind after cleanup and meet the fans. Both of their hearts and jumped when they thought of it and they’d shared a knowing look. It was always for the fans, and they wouldn’t have it any other way.

They’d met plenty of interesting characters and gathered some inside jokes to share for months to come. Hugs galore, more than enough tears, stories, and laughs. Tyler was always happy to take the time out of his day to meet the people he did this for. One girl—well, demigirl; they admitted to having a conflicting gender identity but accepted both female and nonbinary pronouns—told of her mistake in letting her anxiety discourage her from meeting the members of another influential band of hers, and of how she’d vowed to not let that stop her from meeting these two boys. She asked for hugs a lot and, though she didn’t cry, Tyler believed he understood what she was trying to tell them. At the end, though, she quietly wiped her cheeks that were suddenly wet and told them how they’d saved her life. “I know you probably hear this all the time, and I never really thought I’d be one to join the crowd but…” Her voice caught and Tyler enveloped her in another hug, followed by Josh to make it a group hug. She shook in his arms and he heard her mumble, “But you did.”

Tyler smiled, remembering that. Somehow, each interaction was different, and he hoped he would always appreciate each individual one. However, the smile faded as they rounded a corner and the ominous hunk of wood was sitting there just like before, as menacing as ever.

They stopped walking and stood close. Tyler stood rigid, his fingertips twitching. Josh pursed his lips and leaned onto one hip, folding his arms and blowing out a breath.

“Well. You little fucker.”

Tyler couldn’t help a snicker. A few seconds later, he was laughing so hard he had to hold onto Josh to keep himself up. When he eventually righted himself, tears had stained his cheeks and he was gripping Josh with white knuckles. Josh looked at him, concerned, and fumbled for his friend’s hand.

“Ty… Tyler are you okay?”

“I just… Oh God, Josh. Why did we come back here? What was the point? Why—?” His throat closed up on him and he shook, trying to catch his breath. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t… I’m sorry.”

Josh narrowed his eyes and glanced from Tyler to the shack. “Hey. Hey, Ty. We came back to get over this shit, okay? This thing is fucked up but it doesn’t deserve to take you with it.”

He paused for a while to let Tyler collect himself, rubbing circles over his hand. He eventually received a few nods and he let go of Tyler’s hand. They both flexed their fingers and didn’t say anything. Then, “Let’s destroy it.”

“What?”

“I don’t know… I want to destroy it. Do whatever we can to try stopping it from doing this to anyone else.”

Josh opened his mouth, then closed it and shrugged. “Sure. Why not? We don’t know how it works but it’s worth a shot.”

Tyler rolled up his sleeves dramatically and ran toward the shack, grabbing a shard from the door he’d broken down when he found himself trapped in the dark room yet again. He pulled on it—hard. It broke off in his hands, easier than he’d expected for some reason, but he felt splinters lodge themselves in his fingers. He didn’t care, and some part of him recognized that as a warning sign, but the bigger part of him just wanted to demolish the stupid shack.

So he did.

Josh eventually joined him, grabbing some pieces and drumming along the ragged walls before tearing strips off. They kicked and threw rocks and did anything else they could think of. It was nearly pitch black before they stood back, exhausted, slightly bloodied and bruised, and admired their handiwork.

It was still standing more or less, but there were holes in the walls and boards missing and the door was thrown across the parking lot, now found lying in a ditch with muddy footprints dotting its surface.

Tyler wiped his mouth and stood beside Josh proudly, breathing heavily. Josh rotated his shoulders and stretched his neck. He wiped his hands on his jeans before clapping them together and laughing. “Well that was great.”

“Yeah. We should dismantle demonic buildings together again sometime.”

“Let’s go back to the hotel.”

“Okay.”

* * *

Small gasps were permeating the otherwise silent little hotel room. Tyler was sitting on the edge of the bed, Josh standing in front of him with a pained expression on his face. Tyler was only wincing but he just tilted his head back and looked at the ceiling.

“Almost done. Sorry, Ty,” Josh murmured. Another minute later, and a few more hisses from clenched teeth, and he put down a pair of tweezers on the nightstand.

“Nah, I’m fine.” Tyler gingerly rubbed his hands together. “Thank you.” He sighed and examined his fingers, sliding his gaze up to his palms, wrists, then floral-covered forearms. He scowled and pulled his robe off, grunting when it caught on his edges and tugging harder. He pulled and pulled, his eyes wild and his hands shaking, until it lay in a crumpled heap on the ground.

Josh’s heart dropped to his stomach. “Tyler, stop it!” He grabbed Tyler’s shoulders and pulled him to stand, holding him against his chest as tightly as he could. “Stop. You’re fine. It’s over, goddammit. I don’t know what it was, or why it happened, but it’s over. You’re _alive_ , Tyler Joseph, and I am thankful that you are. And guess, what Ty? Guess what you did?” Josh was almost crying now. He didn’t like it, but he let the tears come, though he couldn’t tell which shakes were from him and which were from Tyler. “You saved me. Something happened that I don’t understand, but you got me out of there, okay? You’re important. Without you…” He sighed and resisted the urge to run his hand through his hair. “I don’t know. Tyler, please… Breathe. Calm down. Let’s get through this.”

“Okay.” Tyler’s voice was muffled against Josh’s shirt. “Okay. Okay,” he repeated.

Josh let out a breath and reached a hand up to stroke Tyler’s head. “I’m here, buddy.”

“Me too.”

Tyler edged out of Josh’s embrace and sat back down on the bed. He patted the spot beside him, which Joshua soon filled, and wiped his cheeks. He made a noise in the back of his throat. “I’m sor—”

“No. No more. Quiet. Just breathe.”

Eventually, Tyler took his shoes off and crawled up to the head of the bed. He curled up under the covers, not even having to say anything before Josh followed him. He smiled, feeling a glimmer of peace bubble up deep in his chest. He let out a shaky breath and reached around to pull Josh close, nuzzling his face into the other boy’s back. Josh broke into his own smile and turned his face into the pillow.

He was exhausted. They both were. Sleep came quietly, kissing their eyes with sympathetic lips and sending them off dreamlessly in the hopes of giving them peace.

It didn’t last all night. Tyler woke up first, half-surprised he hadn’t been woken by a nightmare or other undesirable thoughts. He lay still for a while, very aware of his longtime friend in his arms. Then, after a while, his arms started throbbing. He winced and carefully pulled his arms out from under and over Josh, examining them. He couldn’t see well in the dark room—he didn’t even remember either of them turning the lights off, actually—but he could make out the eerily familiar marks.

Josh stirred and Tyler’s heart started hammering in his chest. He gently reached over and rubbed the sleeping man’s arm, whispering and hoping to lull him back to sleep. It didn’t work, though, and soon enough Josh was sitting up in the bed and giving Tyler a sleepy concerned look.

“Ty…? Why are you up?”

“No reason. I just woke up. Go back to sleep.”

Josh narrowed his eyes, more awake now. “No, I’m up now. Wanna talk?”

Tyler started to refuse, but then his arms throbbed again and he sunk down into the bed. “Yeah… kinda…” Josh leaned over to him and began to hug him, but Tyler suddenly jerked away, hissing in pain.

“Wh—? I’m so sorry, Ty! What did I do?” He flipped over and pulled on the lamp string, lighting the room. He looked over to Tyler, who slowly turned his forearms to Josh with an apologetic look on his face. “Oh…” Josh murmured.

The light illuminated bruises littering Tyler’s arms and shoulders, both of them briefly remembering how they’d run headlong into each other down in the evil basement and collided painfully. But the bruises were the least of Tyler’s problems. Long, angry red marks ran down the pale boy’s arms. Tyler opened his mouth, shaking, and whispered, “I didn’t do it, Josh. I swear I didn’t do it.”

“Oh, no, baby boy. I never thought that.” _I mean, they_ look _like it, but I know the truth._ Josh carefully pulled Tyler in, burying his face in the crook of his neck. “I’m sorry you got hurt.”

Tyler nodded, letting another bout of tears stain his face. Then he reached up and wiped them away. “It’s okay. I’m fine. We’re gonna be fine, just like you said.” He felt so small, and in that moment, he didn’t mind feeling small.

“Yeah, we are.” Josh leaned back and rubbed Tyler’s shoulders, smiling softly. “You wanna talk about anything else?” He glanced over at the clock resting on the desk. “It’s only three in the morning. Perfectly reasonable time to be talking to someone about serious stuff. Like, the universe. And time. And the inevitability of—”

“Josh,” Tyler warned.

“Oh. Right.”

Tyler didn’t want to think about it. He knew he should, but he really didn’t want to. The omnipotent force watching over them all decided to make his decision for him, however, and the thoughts didn’t go away. Instead, they came spilling over his lips, like a vicious blood red rainstorm.

“I don’t want to go crazy, Josh.” He was crying again, and shaking in Josh’s embrace. “I don’t know what I want to do with my life after this… this whole _thing_ winds down and ends… but…” He couldn’t finish the sentence, choking back another sob.

Josh reached over and grabbed Tyler’s floral robe, bringing it up and wrapping him in it. He leaned in and pressed his forehead to the other boy’s. “You’re not going to go crazy. I won’t let you lose your mind, because if you do… I’ll find it for you. I’ll find it like you found me.”

They sat in silence for a moment, staring at each other, hearts pounding. Josh knew he meant every word with all of his heart. Finally, he reached up and held his palm to Tyler’s cheek, his eyes watering up, and he whispered, “I love you, Ty. I… I really do.”

Tyler threaded his fingers through Josh’s hair wordlessly. He was calm inside once again, but he felt his heart pound like Josh on his drums. “I love you too, Jishwa. So much.” He sighed, toying with the pale red hair absentmindedly. “You’ve made everything better. I’m so glad I stayed alive,” he laughed softly, “and that I met you. You’re my pastel prince, saving me from myself and making every day worth it. I’m sorry, that was really cheesy but—”

He stopped speaking as Josh leaned in and pressed his lips to Tyler’s. The dark-haired poet shivered, pulling lightly on Josh’s hair and holding his body as close to his as he could. Fingertips dragged up and down bodies before Josh finally held Tyler’s face gently in his hands and pulled away.

“I’ve wanted to do that for way too long,” he said breathlessly.

Tyler gazed at him with tired, peaceful eyes. “I’ve been hoping you would do that for longer.”

“I’ll always be here for you, Tyler. As anyone who loves you with all of his heart.”

“You are my world, Jishwa.”

They greeted sleep again with serene hearts, and spent the rest of the night curled up together with their hearts thudding deep inside to the same rhythm. They woke up with arms and legs tangled, and left with fingers laced, vowing to spend the rest of their life the same way. Your glowing eyes may sing vicious songs mercilessly in the dark, but you always have the power to change the song…

…and turn on the light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOWEE Cheesy af but I hope it wasn’t too bad. Really happy you guys have liked this. Thank you for reading! Maybe I’ll get a new fic going soon. Hopefully.


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